Harvard Public Health School Launches New Climate Change and Planetary Health Concentration

The Harvard School of Public Health rolled out a new concentration this fall titled “Climate Change and Planetary Health,” exploring the effect of climate change on the planetary health crisis.

According to the HSPH website, the concentration is designed to prepare students to address climate-induced health consequences. More than 70 students have declared interest for the concentration.

Christopher D. Golden, faculty co-director of the concentration and an associate professor of nutrition and planetary health, emphasized the significance of this addition.

“We see climate change as one of the most important existential threats that is affecting public health,” Golden said.

The concentration will teach students “how to characterize threats that both climate change and broader environmental change will have on human health,” according to Golden.

Gaurab Basu — the director of policy and education for HSPH’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, and co-director of the new concentration — echoed Golden’s sentiment.

Climate change “feels intertwined in all parts of society, and that means the solutions need to be in every part of society,” Basu said.

The 10-credit concentration requires students to take four core courses before branching out into one of two tracks with more than 40 courses across various departments.

The core courses include “An Introduction to Planetary Health” and “Climate Change and Global Health Equity” taught by Golden and Basu, respectively. Concentration electives cover topics ranging from societal disaster response to environmental health impacts.

The two offered tracks are Research Methodology — which allows students to use biostatistical methods to inform climate policy — and Research Translation — which focuses on communicating the benefits of climate solutions to the public and policymakers, according to the concentration’s website.

The two tracks “allow people to be able to find courses that hone in on some of their interests and skill sets,” Basu said. “Some people really identify as a researcher, others want to do this translation work of getting it out in the world.”

Hervet Randriamady, a fourth-year Ph.D. student at HSPH, said that he chose to join the concentration due to its “holistic approach” and his interest in combating climate change in Madagascar.

Randriamady said he wanted to take a class that “really helped me to understand what type of policy solutions and how can I fight for that kind of injustice that affects my country.”

Heather M. Kelahan, a fifth-year doctoral candidate at HSPH currently enrolled in the concentration, said it provided a better avenue for finding resources and forging connections.

According to Kelahan, “having this more formal structure, I think, is gonna allow for better interaction between the students and faculty working in this space.”

“I hope it just kind of brings more attention and energy and resources to this work,” she continued.

Amber K. “Momi” Afelin, a first-year Ph.D. student at HSPH in the new concentration, said having a formal concentration can be more compelling to future employers.

“By having a concentration when you get your degree, you can say, ‘I have a concentration in climate and planetary health.’” she said. “That’s pretty valuable for a new and budding field, to be able to have that qualification listed on your diploma.”

Afelin also said that was excited to be among “classmates who are interested in the same things.”

“When we’re running into issues, we can bounce ideas off of each other, we can think through different problems and different approaches and solutions, and all those things together,” Afelin said, “like having that peer support built in.”

Basu said that the concentration will engage with students’ “ingenuity and creativity.”

“It’s really a fundamental question of ‘What kind of world do you want to build? How do we build it?’” he said.

“The idea is that we move from an understanding of planetary health to training planetary healers,” Golden said.

—Staff writer Xinni (Sunshine) Chen can be reached at sunshine.chen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sunshine_cxn.

—Staff writer Christie E. Beckley can be reached at christie.beckley@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cbeckley22.